Rules for Lenders Relaxed

Regulators Agree to Ease Requirements for Meeting Guideline on Liquidity

By

David Enrich,

Geoffrey T. Smith and

Andrew Morse

Updated Jan. 7, 2013 6:50 a.m. ET

BASEL, Switzerland—Global banking regulators watered down a key element of their plan for creating a safer financial system, giving ground to banks that argued the rules were unworkable and financially risky.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a group of the world's top regulators and central bankers, said Sunday that it agreed to relax a rule designed to ensure that big banks are able to weather financial crises without running short of cash. Bowing to two years of intense pressure from the banking industry, the...